I broke my leg in March. I didn't just break it, I shattered it with my own body weight while walking across the floor of my bedroom to get another serving of chinese food, although I have altered the story to claim it was to "get a glass of water!" It WAS a freakish accident that would have happened regardless of my body weight. My bone strength is proportional to my weight anyway. What would have been different is that my relatives wouldn't have had to struggle so hard to catch me the times I fell when trying to hobble on crutches, I wouldn't have had to get the "extra-wide" wheel chair that wouldn't fit through the entrance to the public restroom at work, and my boyfriend would have been able to CARRY me to the car (like he wanted to) instead of firemen having to come get me. Twice.

Needless to say, it was a wake up call. My body will never be the same again. My foot is no longer straight - it now splays out to the side. I have a hunk of metal in my leg that will stay there permanently. I have 5 ugly and highly visible scars on my leg. I thought my leg would be amputated and I wouldn't be able to walk properly ever again. I CAN walk now - but only because I went to three months of grueling physical therapy where they MADE me exercise and ride a stationary bike if I ever wanted to have a normal leg again.

During this whole process I have learned the value of a working, healthy body and realized that by being so overweight I have been purposefully denying myself that. I never wanted to experience the humiliation again or know that I am suffering because of my own laziness and lack of self-respect. I am proud to say that I have lost 46.5 lbs, begun an exercise routine, and am feeling better every day.

Lucy, what a story. I just wanted to say thank you for posting it and congratulations on the 46.5 lbs lost already! You sound truly motivated and in turn have motivated me on a morning when I badly needed a reminder of how important it is to be happy and healthy.

I know for me I have a lot of health issues that have been brought on early by being overweight but you can still be in denial until you see yourself in a picture and you don't know who you are and then you realize it is you. I do a lot of scrapbooking and it makes me sad to see that I don't have many pictures of me with my kids because I don't want my pictures taken! It is funny but I don't think of myself as being BIG but just yesterday I saw a reflection of myself and I can't belive how big I look!
Sami

For me it was a combination of things -
Couldn't find clothes in regular high-street stores to fit
Hadn't had a proper boyfriend in 3 years
Good friends told me I'd look great... IF I lost a couple of stone
Couldn't run for the bus
Developed an irritable bowel (sorry to be so graphic! )
FINALLY... photos taken on Millenium Eve (31st December 1999)... I can't even tell you how dreadful I looked... photos really bring it home to you...

You will know when you're ready to lose... it will just sort of happen to you You'll make the decision and suddenly you'll realise that for the past 6 weeks you've been walking everywhere and not eating so much... that's what will motivate you to carry on in the end!

I know for me it was a combination of things from over two years. I remember the summer of 1999, I was my heaviest (I think 215-220- I never got on the scales). I was truly out of control. I was eating boxes of chocolates a day. I looked in the mirror and didn't recognize myself. None of my clothes fit, and I was sluggish and tired all the time. I couldn't breathe right. I just didn't feel like me anymore. I dropped a few pounds by not eating chocolates but I was still starting to squeeze out of my 14's. That's when I got some photos from my sister from a vacation we took to Sea World. There was a picture of me standing next to Shamu. I couldn't tell which one of us was the whale. I knew I had to do something. I was terrified that I was losing myself in all that fat. I was no longer athletic and attractive in my eyes. Worst of all, I felt like a failure. I joined Weight Watchers on December 13th, 1999. By July of 2000 I made Lifetime. I lost 42 pounds. Since then the scale has gone up and down, but I know it will never be over 200 pounds ever again. I feel like ME again.

First of all I want to be healthy, so far the only problem that I have besides over weight is the change of life (if you know what I mean). But because I am over weight for a little more than 30 pounds is driving me crazy. My clothes don't fit, my breast is getting biger and biger, my shoulders look like a football player and I feel so bad about myself that every time that my dh wants to get together with friends I always have and excuse. I used to look good (not a wonderful body) but I looked good enough that friends use to tell me how pretty I look. I missed that I don't hear that anymore. Yes I know you are suppose to loose the weight for your own good not for your friends but it helps a lot when people make good comments about the way you look specially in my case that I have a very busy social life. I used to be size 10 now Iam size 12 because I refuse to go higher than that. So the bottom line is that I want to lose weight so I can have my old and good life back. God bless.

For me, the motivating moment was owning up to how much weight I had put on. There was a time in my life where I was too skinny (imagine that) and then almost overnight (well, three years) I had put on 40 pounds. It amazes me every time I pass by a mirror or buy clothing.

I found it was easy to just pretend it didn't matter, or that I could just lose the weight at any time. But I had a lightbulb moment one day when I saw my weight creep above what I had set as my "can't possibly ever go over, not even when I'm pregnant" weight, and decided I had literally sat on my butt long enough.

I think that is the best and only way to achieve permanent weight loss. So far I have lost 6 pounds, and I honestly think that is just from being honest with myself about: what I am eating, what I am actively doing and what I am still doing that sets me up for failure.

First of all I want to Thank Sarah for the topic. I have been dieting for over a month now and just this morning I was thinking "YOU'RE SLIPPING BIG TIME NANCY". I have only lost 5 pounds and the first 3 was in the first week. I really needed to think and also remind myself why I'm doing this.

One day my 11 year old son came in the living room and told me how much he weighed. It was obviously a concern to him. I was reading the newspaper and I just happened to find a 1 page flyer on a weight loss study for child and parent. I thought "Is somebody trying to tell me something?" Well we have been going to the study meetings for about 6 weeks now and have learned a lot as far as counting our calories and seeing where we're making our mistakes. Last week was my first slip with donuts and I gained 1/4 of a pound. Then the other night I ate some chocolate but not a lot. It's just that I feel very off track and once I started feeling that way I started to not care again.

The last time I got weighed which was Wed. I weighed 267.50. I want to weigh under 200 by my 40th B-day in May. I have ignored this weight for too long and I don't want to give up now. I can see where it can be easy to get to 300 and that scares me. You are all in my thoughts and I will wish us all luck to stay strong and have the self esteem that we are worth to be healthy and feeling good about ourself.

Once in my younger days, I wanted to lose weight to look good. Now that a few years have passed I'm joining the vast amount of older(Over 45) ladies who are seeing thier health go down hill fast. I got very motivated when my Cholestrol got up to 271 and my blood pressure was 210/115. That will do it. Life or death, and it's all up to me. Better to get control now than later.

around the middle of march i hit rock bottom. i was so depressed and sad. i ordered a miracle diet that was charged to my account and never arrived. i read on line that it was a hoax and started to cry. really cry. i went to success stories and really started to read them. i knew what tools to use, but i needed that low to now reach the high that i am at now. i began weight watchers on april 15 and have lost 52 lbs. i started out just barely under 300 lbs and have about 65 lbs to go. i am highly motivated and psyched. i currently walk (with leslie sansones tapes) 12 miles a week, attend weight watchers once a week, and really concentrate on this life long change.

I was a fat pre-teen then at 16 I lost a lot of weight. I got pregnant at 18 and kept the weight off for several years. Then I just started gaining and gaining.
In 1993 I married a wonderful man who really doesn't care about my weight but I do. I wanted to be able to wear regular size clothes.
In Dec 2000 I became ill and had to have major surgery. gallbladder, Hysteremctomy, and appendix all at one time. So that really started me to thinking.
Back in June dh and i went to a movie. I happened to look in the mirror in the ladies room and burst into tears. I knew i was heavy but that was the straw that broke the camels back so to speak. The first of July i began cutting back, drinking water and trying to stay away from fast food and sweets. So far I have lost from 245 to 218. I am at a stand still right now but i'm still trying.
I would like to be at 200 by christmas but I probally won't. But maybe by my 50th birthday in Feb.